Shipping giant Maersk makes new record profits

A container ship from the Danish shipowner Maersk near the city of Kronstadt, Russia in the Baltic Sea, April 4, 2022. AP

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Sea freight is still overheated.

Congestion in global maritime traffic benefits carriers.

Since the beginning of the health crisis, the price of freight has continued to increase.

And the Danish giant Maersk announces, Wednesday, May 4, a new profit record for the first quarter of 2022.

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Maersk is not experiencing the crisis

, as evidenced by the figures communicated by the group on Wednesday May 4.

This is the 14th consecutive quarter of rising profits for the shipowner.

Over the last few months, it has more than doubled its net profit compared to last year.

This amounts to 6.8 billion dollars for the first quarter of 2022.

The Scandinavian flagship inevitably benefits from the congestion of world maritime traffic.

Shipowners, who provide 90% of freight transport, are unable to meet the exploding demand.

Result: the price of the container remains at very high rates.

► To read also: Maritime transport overheated since the economic recovery

The situation in Chinese ports should not help matters.

The

due to the resumption of the

pandemic could aggravate these bottlenecks in global container transport.

More recently, the closure of airspace following Russia's

has also slowed container shipments and thus exacerbated soaring freight rates.

Maersk, considered a barometer of world trade, is taking advantage of this: the Danish group recently raised its forecast for 2022, expecting a profit of around 30 billion dollars.

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